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Toon Boom animation software just became more accessible than ever

A decade ago, it would have unthinkable that Brazil would be the focal country at this year’s Annecy International Animated Film Festival. South America’s largest nation had a small animation industry until recently. According to “Variety”, Brazil has only produced 44 animated features since 1951 — 19 of which were created in the last five years and another 25 are in production. This growth is driven by a hunger for original content from Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, government support and technological advancements making digital solutions like Toon Boom software more accessible.

Case in point: Tito and the Birds, a Brazilian feature produced inToon Boom Harmony, is among 10 films competing for the prestigious 2018 Cristal Award — the top honour at Annecy. The country’s animation achievements are also proof of how international the industry is becoming, with local producers contributing to and benefiting from a global market worth $254 billion last year and projected to reach$270 billion in 2020.

However, overhead costs can be as much as 40 percent of production budgets. For studios, schools and teams of all sizes in emerging markets like Brazil, this can be prohibitively expensive. Additionally, they may also lack the infrastructure, hardware and funds to set up shop. This was a pivotal reason why Toon Boom Animation partnered with Nimble Collective to make the world’s leading animation software more accessible to studios everywhere.

Nimble Collective offers animation production teams an entire cloud-based studio infrastructure. Workstations, professional workflow, storage and more can all be accessed and streamed via a user’s browser. Toon Boom’s animation software, including Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and Harmony, will now also be available on the platform, meaning an entire studio or pipeline can be set up anywhere in the world — at up to 75 percent less overhead.

“By partnering with Nimble, Toon Boom Animation is ensuring our industry-standard tools are more accessible than ever," says Francisco Del Cueto, Toon Boom co-president and chief technology officer. “Now, any artist or company can access our products directly from the cloud; with this technology, setting up a workstation or an entire studio can be done in a matter of minutes.”

The partnership will connect the top tools to global talents and facilitate high-quality animation creation and collaboration. This accessibility will allow projects to be completed with more speed and at lower costs, whether they be films, television series, video games, advertisements, education and more.

Toon Boom Animation and Nimble Collective are using digital technology to democratize the industry. For studios in emerging markets, being able to create high-quality animation with less overhead costs can help them stay competitive. This is a big step towards building an international animation ecosystem that benefits all.

Will you be trying out Toon Boom animation software on Nimble Collective? Let us know what you’re working on in the comments below!